Along the Cider Road

During Christmas season, hard cider is at the heart of the festivities, since it is always the drink of choice for at least one member of the family. Up until a few years ago, it was a special treat for grandpa and grandma, but now new consumer trends are starting to reshape the hard cider landscape.

BY ANABELLA  ALCUAZ

Cider is an ancestral beverage, which is showing an upward trend among global consumers. According to a private survey, in 2019, Argentina was the only Latin American country in the top ten of hard-cider consumers, together with the UK, South Africa, the USA, Australia, Spain and France.

Year after year, cider has been gaining ground in our country, with a regional product from Alto Valle del Río Negro with a strong Patagonian identity. Vanesa Traverso, a hard cider expert, explains: “As with beer, the goal for all Argentinean cider producers is to make cider fashionable, so as to de-seasonalize it and make it a beverage people can drink all year long”. She also gave us an insider’s scoop about some budding plans for projects that may be up and coming in 2020: namely, organizing an event with all Argentinean hard cider producers, both craft and industrial makers, involving cider trucks and food trucks, tasting menus, and chefs giving cooking master classes and demonstrating recipes with hard cider.

New hard cider consumption venues, such as bars and restaurants are already springing up; there, hard cider gets the same treatment as beer—its main competitor— and it comes in novelty presentations, such as cans or barrels, very popular in many countries around the world.

Consumers are getting familiar with the wider range of hard cider to choose from: industrial, pasteurized, artificially carbonated, premium or craft cider, which makes for more informed decisions when it comes to when to buy it or drink it.

A step further for the industry would be hard cider segmentation according to taste and style, as is the case with wine, where consumers can generally select a Malbec or a Cabernet Sauvignon. The same goes for beer, with consumers who are able to tell the difference between an IPA, an Ale, an Irish Red, a wheat brew or flavored beers, among other varieties. The idea is to highlight the diversity in the hard cider universe: spiced, blackcurrant or raspberry scented, tannic, sweet or dry, round and silky or with wild notes, blend or single apple variety, such as Pink Lady, barrel cider, ice cider, and the list goes on.

When it comes to food, hard cider offers a gamut of harmonies as an ingredient in bittersweet sauces to go with pork or chicken, and seafood risottos. Cider is also a fantastic option when it comes to pairing with Asian food, Basque dishes with peppers and paprika, leek quiches, pâtés, terrines, and cheeses such as Camembert, Cheddar or Gruyère.  And let’s not forget those with a sweet tooth: cider goes great with apricot, ginger and apple pie.

Apfelwein, cider, cidre, most, sidra, sidro

What cider regions have in common is a cool and maritime climate, ideal for cider apple varieties. Many European plantations have been in place for centuries. These old apple trees have patiently born witness to history and are home to many local flora and fauna species.

England has a long history and tradition as a producer and consumer of hard cider, especially in the western region of the country. Names such as Herefordshire and Somerset have been in the hard cider industry map for centuries. There, the term “scrumpy”, which means withered apples in the local dialect, describes a non-filtered type of hard cider.

The regions of Normandy and Brittany in the north west of France are two cider strongholds. There are different styles to choose from, such as cidre doux, usually sweet and with low alcohol content, typically served in ceramic bowls to go with creamy buckwheat crêpes. Or you can pick a cidre brut, a drier and more complex variety.

In Spain, even though hard cider has been part of the whole gastronomic culture since the dawn of time, there is nothing better than drinking it in the northern coast, i.e., the Basque country and Asturias, where dry cider is served “escanciada“, which means to pour the liquid from a certain height, so as to make it hit the sides of the glass. This action helps air the liquid, and creates an effervescent texture that highlights its acidity and fruitiness.

When we think of Germany, we mainly think of beer, but when it comes to cider, we should mention apfelwein from the Sachsenhausen district in Frankfurt, and Hesse. It pairs fabulously with the creaminess of handkäse, which literally translates as “hand cheese”, a name that refers to its small size. A tip for hard cider fans: in April 2020, Frankfurt will be home to CiderWorld ’20, an international cider fair.

According to specialized sources, hard cider is the alcoholic beverage category that has grown the most in the USA in the last few years. Craft hard ciders are typically bubbly and, in many Manhattan restaurants, they are the drink of choice as the perfect substitute for wine.  Among the most appealing attributes for consumers, we can mention that hard cider—unlike beer—is gluten-free and has low alcohol content. The American Cider Association has already launched its upcoming mega event: CiderCon 2020, which will take place in Oakland, California, January 28-31, 2020.

Argentina is the sixth cider producer in the world, and the seventh biggest consumer, even when it is an extremely seasonal drink that is only consumed between December and February. The production in Argentina totals 22 million liters per year, and consumption amounts to 0.5 gallons per person per year. Up to 95% of cider producers buy their fruit from the Alto Valle del Río Negro, in Patagonia, and bottle their product in Greater Buenos Aires.

The market growth is exponential. María Inés Caparrós, manager at Pülku, a cidery located in Villa Regina, in the province of Río Negro, talks about the family business that she started in 2010, together with her husband Ernesto, where they decided to add value to their primary production: “Nowadays, we have a 250 square meter plant, with the capacity to process and store around 16,000 gallons. Our projection is to be processing 80,000 gallons in five years’ time, which means a huge commitment and a lot of hard work. Besides, one of our trademarks is that we bottle on site, that is, our own production farm. That means more quality in the end product: our cider is made by the apple tree itself,” María Inés says. She also shared her outlook on the market: “The phenomenon that we saw in Europe and in the USA in 2010-2011 is something that is now emerging in Argentina. There is no question that cider consumption will grow, as long as we continue producing premium products instead of that cheap version that was a notorious staple in Argentina for many years. Low prices were detrimental to quality in the past,” she points out. 

Another brand, Jaque a la reina comes from Comarca Andina in Chubut, Patagonia, and is known as the southernmost cider made in Argentina. “Nowadays, ours is the only sparkling cider made with wild apples from Comarca Andina, an area whose climate makes for bright colored apples, with an intense taste and fragrance that reminds you of the fruit typical of our region,” says Verónica Barrionuevo, one of its owners.

Ricardo Trello, from Sidra Alto Vuelo, located in San Sebastián, Cervantes, in the province of Río Negro, produces a cider with prime quality apples, together with his life partner. “We realized that the key was to avoid discarded fruit, as well as preservatives and 40-year-old technology. It is essential to use the best apples, and to add as much value as possible. Only the best varieties and the best quality,” he says.  He also explained that they use a “cloth pressing” technique from Asturias, Spain, which accounts for good acidity levels, due to the fact that there is no added water in the process. They use the Champenoise method to obtain the bubbles and a second fermentation after bottling.

Outsider Sidra de Altura is a project led by agricultural engineer Leopoldo Kahn and his business partners, which aims at putting Mendoza in the hard cider map of Argentina. This is an authentic “garage cider” from Perdriel: it has a touch of sweetness, balanced acidity and is mildly carbonated, made with apples from the best sites in  Tunuyán (Vistaflores) and San Carlos (Altamira), in the province of Mendoza. “We always say ours is a garage cider because we adopted that concept. It entails maintaining production at small scale, following traditional methods and using technology to look after the critical steps in the process, thus respecting the essence of our apples to the fullest,” says Kahn.

The main cider producers are:

• CCU (Sidra Real), which controls 25% of the market.
• Rama Caída (from the Cuyo region and the province of Córdoba, in the center of Argentina).
• Del Valle (Buenos Aires and the provinces in the north of Argentina)
• La Farruca (from the NE riverside or Mesopotamian region),

Coops:

• La Reginense (Villa Regina).
• Las Delicias (Cipolletti)

The main craft cideries:

• Pülku (Villa Regina)
• Peer (Neuquén)
• Rama Negra (Valle de Uco)
• Yambell (Tunuyán)
• Cuarto Surco (Mendoza)

June 3rd marks the celebration of World Cider Day, an international love ode to this alcoholic apple beverage